You have
about as much idea how to manage a boy as a--as a--" he
hesitated for a suitable comparison: he wanted to say "goat,"
but gallantry forbade; "as any other old maid," he blurted out,
realizing as he did so that a woman had rather be called a goat
than an old maid any time.
The color mounted to Miss Minerva's face.
"I don't have to be an old maid," she snapped spunkily.
"No; and you are not going to be one any longer," he
answered with decision. "I tell you what, Miss Minerva, we
are going to make a fine, manly boy out of that nephew of yours."
"We?" she echoed faintly.
"Yes, we! I said we, didn't I?" replied the Major ostentatiously.
"The child shall have a pony to ride and every thing else that a
boy ought to have. He is full of natural animal spirits and has
to find some outlet for them; that is the reason he is always in
mischief. Now, I think I understand children." He drew himself
up proudly. "We shall be married to-morrow," he announced, "that
I may assume at once my part of the responsibility of Billy's
rearing.
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